The Fall/Winter 2006-07 issue of CAMT_Update, the Center for Arts Management and Technology's newsletter, is available for free at http://artsnet.org/CAMT_Update-FallWinter0607.pdf. Check it out and let us know what you'd like to see in the next update!
Ladies and gentlemen, start your cellphones.
On Sunday, the Chicago Sinfonietta played a new work with unusual instrumentation: the world premiere of the Concertino for Cellular Phones and Symphony Orchestra. During the performance, audience members were signaled to active phones by the illumination of colored lights — red for the balcony, green for the orchestra seats. The Sinfonietta's Music Director, Paul Freeman, discussed the work in the context of music with random elements, including pieces by John Cage and Charles Ives. However, the October 1st premiere was highly organized; the orchestra provided directions via email and in the program, and the conductor held a practice session before the performance.
To get a flavor for the music, you can view the Chicago Sinfonietta's television commercial featuring the Concertino.
Starting a Podcast, Part 4
Yesterday I interviewed three of my fellow CAMT staffers: Guillermo Marinero (Senior Information Systems Specialist), Haebin Kim (Information Systems Specialist), and Melody Fleishauer (Systems Administrator). These interviews are roughly 5 minutes each and aren't thrilling, but you can hear a little about each of their backgrounds and how they became intrigued by technology. Listen to the interviews in our Podcast category.
Next week: I will discuss how to get these mp3 files out into the world as Podcasts.
EDIT: After publishing this post, I caught a mistake: I posted three mp3 files to one post. In order for a Podcast aggregator like iTunes to catch your audio files, it's important to post them as separate links. Since this blog is meant to be instructional, I thought I'd call myself out on this error publicly, so we can all learn from my mistake. I have added two more posts in the Podcasts category of this blog forHaebin and Melody, so iTunes will snag them for me. More on this next week...
Carnegie Museums have gone digital
Through the Art Collection Search, people can now browse the Carnegie Museums of Arts' collection online. I think this is a perfect segue to our Successful Digitization Projects Funded by the IMLS presented at the conference in October. After resolving some of their copyright issues, and following up on the statute of limitations for art (the artist's death + 70 years) the site is up!
No registration is required. Just go to the website and browse!
And now for a battle of wits
British newspaper The Guardian is known for its famously difficult quizzes. Test your musical and historical knowledge with this pop quiz, written for a gala at London's Royal Opera House. After you submit your responses, the Guardian will display the correct answers. Study up and impress your friends with your newfound knowledge of obscure trivia.
Ode to Odeo...
While the audio interviews with CAMT staff as part of my continuing series on podcasting will be delayed until next Friday, I didn't want to let this week end without providing something fun and exciting. Odeo, recently named one of the hot Web 2.0 apps by WIRED.com (read the article), is a tool for creating and sharing podcasts without any muss and/or fuss.
Try it out. Simply choose a category and a podcast, then hit play. You can also download all files to your portable listening device. (Note that I did not say iPod... I'm being open to the fact that other mp3 players exist. In fact, I bought my wife an iRock. She liked it until I got my iPod, which was sleeker, smaller, and far more advanced. I'm a jerk.)
Acquity Joins the Technology in the Arts Lineup!
A huge thank you and a warm welcome are extended to Technology in the Art's newest sponsor, the Acquity Group. Rick Nash, Managing Director of the Kansas City branch, will join us in Pittsburgh October 20-21. Acquity Group is a leading provider of business and technology solutions designed to optimize business performance. For more information, visit them at www.acquitygroup.com or in person at Technology in the Arts!
Genius among us
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced this year's MacArthur fellowships, otherwise known as "Genius Grants". Among the artists receiving the fellowship are painter Shahzia Sikander, jazz violinist Regina Carter, multimedia artist Anna Schuleit, and sculptor Josiah McElheny. The fellowship award includes a $500,000 grant over five years, and is intended to allow these highly creative individuals to pursue their work free of obligations. According to the foundation's website, "The Fellows Program places its emphasis on individual creativity because the discoveries, actions, and ideas that shape our society often result from the path-breaking efforts of individuals. The MacArthur Fellowship is designed to support people, often unrecognized, who are expanding the boundaries of knowledge and human interaction."
Pittsburgher and Carnegie Mellon Professor Luis von Ahn was also recognized for his work concerning cryptography and artificial intelligence.
Starting a Podcast, Part 3
I now have a microphone connected to my mixer, and the whole shebang is linked to my laptop through an RCA-to-1/8 cord. Here is a pic of the cord:
The black end connects to the laptop, and the red/white end connects to the mixer.
As luck would have it, someone here at CMU was disposing of a microphone stand simply because the plastic clip that holds the mic in place was broken. As my mics came packaged with their own clips that fit perfectly on the unwanted stand, I turned someone's trash into my treasure.
This is a picture of my desk-turned-recording-studio:
Note my beautifully salvaged microphone stand. Also note the Technology in the Arts Web site on my monitor. (Plug, plug, plug.)
Maybe it was annoying, but I walked around the office most of the day on Friday describing my mini podcast studio as "totally awesome." Not everyone shared my enthusiasm. I try to be professional about things, and what happens?
1) The guy that works across the hall from me leans into my office, notices the equipment, and says, "I have to ask." Yes, but I don't have to answer.
2) Jerry Coltin, CAMT's former executive director, tells me the USB mic that came with my computer will work just fine for podcasting. While this may be true, it won't look like I'm getting ready to produce the new Boyz II Men comeback album, which is exactly the look I'm going for.
3) Cary McQueen-Morrow, CAMT's current executive director, says I'm the biggest geek at CMU -- and that is like calling someone the ugliest person at the University of Pittsburgh. (By the way, that is ONLY a joke. As a West Virginia University fan, I'm obligated to say horrible things about Pitt.)
Next Week: Audio Interviews with CAMT Staff
(Art) World Here I Come!
As a graduate student, I don't have a lot of free time to experience the arts in Pittsburgh. However, when I came across this program offered by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, I vowed to make time for the arts this school year. Keeping accessibility in mind, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust developed a program called ARTSpassport. As a member, students are eligible to purchase $10 tickets to selected performances - a great deal when most tickets on the schedule are $30 and up!
To sweeten the deal, local restaurants agreed to offer discounts on meal tickets so hungry students can grab a bite before the show. I think this is a great way to get young people to venture into Downtown Pittsburgh and make an evening out of it.
Find out more about the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's ARTSpassport by clicking on the following link:
http://www.pgharts.org/education/ArtsPassport.aspx
And if you have a similar program you are especially proud of, please share by commenting to this entry.
Opera in the digital era
This week, the Metropolitan Opera announced it will broadcast live performances to movie theaters in the US, Canada, and Europe. The Met also plans to make more than 1,500 historical recordings available online through Rhapsody, a digital on-demand audio and video subscription service. Now that the Met has the rights to distribute both new productions and historic broadcasts on virtually all electronic formats, opera lovers can even watch streaming video of performances on the opera company's website. Read the full article here.
A growing number of opera companies are using technology to reach out to new audiences. According to DRoxy, a digital radio blog, the British opera company Hatstand Opera was the first to release opera podcasts, with its first edition of Podopera in the summer of 2005.
Starting a Podcast, Part 2
Not much to report for now, but I wanted to update on the arrival of our podcasting equipment! Very exciting... it's almost like having a newborn baby. (Well, the podcast equipment doesn't spit up on me or make frequent stinkies.) Here is our mixer:
And here is our microphone:
Note that there are inputs for two microphones, which is the setup we'll be using during the conference. Also note the cleanliness of my desk. I use Lysol wipes every day because I am a germophobic freak of nature. Am I sharing too much?
Now comes the experimentation stage. In the coming days, I will be testing different connections to my laptop to determine what gives me the best sound quality. My research indicates that two cables with RCA (red and white) plugs at one end and a 1/8" plug at the other will work well, so I plan to try that first.
Wiki what?
Wiki is a new term for me, and the following article was very helpful in providing insight to one of many mysterious internet terms: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71733-0.html?tw=wn_culture_3
If you, too, have not yet decoded this and other internet terms, join us in Pittsburgh this Fall! Erika Block will present the session, "Demystifying Technology Buzz Words", on Saturday, October 21 at 4PM on the Carnegie Mellon University campus.
Please continue to visit our Web site, www.TechnologyInTheArts.org to view the updated schedule of events and speakers.
Pittsburgh in Top 25 Brainy Cities List...
Pittsburgh recently ranked 19th on a list of smart cities based on the percentage of its population age 25 and up with bachelor's degrees or higher. CNN.com featured a column today citing the recent U.S. Census Bureau rankings, released this month.
Call us "blue collar" all you like, but this city has brains to go with its brawn.
Tessitura to exhibit at Technology in the Arts
Thank you Tessitura Software for reserving a table in the Exhibitor's Fair. Tessitura offers a variety of services and software specifically tailored to the needs of performing arts organizations. Please visit their website or better yet, visit them in person October 20-21 at Technology in the Arts! We still have room available for organizations and business to showcase products and services. If you have a product you want to share, go to the Exhibitor section of the Web site or contact us for more information.
Starting a Podcast, Part 1
During the conference, I will be strategically located at a table or booth with a laptop and a couple microphones. If you're attending the conference, I may just grab you for a 10-15 minute interview. I plan to then offer up a series of 20-30 minute podcasts in the weeks following the conference. I will also be documenting the development of the podcast on this blog site as a basic guide for arts organizations interested in using the technology for further engaging their audiences.
To find the best podcasting software and hardware to meet my needs, I decided to do some online research. By Googling terms like "podcast," "podcast software," "podcast hardware," and "podcast microphones," I was able to find countless product reviews and general podcast articles.
What most people don't realize is that an individual with a decent computer can start a podcast for next to nothing, because most of the best software is open source (aka free) and a basic laptop or desktop microphone will serve a lone podcaster with no real audio quality demands.
For the TitA podcast, I decided to go with Audacity, a free podcast recording and mixing software. Audacity lets you record multiple tracks and then overlap them creatively. In order to convert the audio files recorded with Audacity to podcast-ready MP3 files, you will need to set up LAME MP3 according to these instructions.
Once you have Audacity with the LAME MP3 encoder properly installed and configured, you will be ready to record your first "podcast." I use the term podcast loosely here, because an effective podcast requires planning. Click below for my first test podcast, for which I broke my own rule and refused to plan. This is simply to prove that podcasting can be extremely cheap.
Click to hear me rambling while a presumably deceased man sings the blues in the background.
If this were a real podcast, I wouldn't simply link to it; I would also submit it as an RSS (see my recent post about RSS feeds) so people could subscribe. But I'll discuss that process in a later edition of my podcast blog series.
Because I want to set up my podcast area at the conference in an interview-friendly fashion, I decided to go with an external mixer and two standard microphones. The mixer and mic setup will provide higher sound quality and the ability to adjust interviewer/interviewee levels on the fly. Based on affordability and favorable online reviews, I opted for the Behringer UB802 mixer and two Shure PG48 microphones.
Mood Affecting Artwork
This article, details how computer scientists from the U.S. and Britain have created an artwork whose palette will correspond to facial cues of an observer.
Oddly enough, the painting will turn somber when a frown is perceived or become playful when smiles are observed. I think they got it backwards; they should have made gruesome scenes when a face is observed to happy and vice versa... Just to keep the observers on the edge. Plus, do we always have to reinforce that happy is red and yellow, and sadness is blue and purple?
What I am waiting for is the ultimate marketing gimmick: the painting that changes all the time until it picks up on a smile, upon which time it stays stagnant. That way- the painting will be individually pleasant to everyone.
Music on the Brain...
I read a great article on Wired.com today about a new book by neuroscientist Daniel Levitin called This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession. The book discusses our neurological reaction to music and examines why humans have loved music since cavemen were banging stones together. (Okay, I'm just assuming cavemen banged stones together for musical entertainment... that's not necessarily scientific fact.)
What a Line-Up!
CAMT is honored to have two very engaging and accomplished keynote speakers scheduled for the Technology in the Arts Conference. Faith Ringgold is a celebrated African-American artist and author whose work is featured in the permanent collections of some of the world's foremost museums, including the Guggenheim and the Met. Read more about Ms. Ringgold on her personal Web site.
Donald Marinelli is a professor with Carnegie Mellon's drama department and a major proponent of the linkage of technology and the arts. Read more about Mr. Marinelli on CMU's Entertainment Technology Center staff page.
Visit Artsplash at the Exhibitors Fair!
A huge "thank you" goes out to the folks at Artsplash for reserving a table at Technology in the Arts. Artsplash is a web-based curriculum tool for teachers and students supported by the Graduate School of Education at Portland State. Please take a minute to browse their excellent Web site!